


happy to be stuck with you

by possumdnp



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Mild Sexual Content, Nostalgia, Quarantine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:49:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23883289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/possumdnp/pseuds/possumdnp
Summary: Phil’s hair is getting long, and Dan can’t stop staring.
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Comments: 16
Kudos: 113





	happy to be stuck with you

**Author's Note:**

> For the sake of this fic’s plot, I’m imagining Phil’s hair as a bit longer than it seems to be in his last few videos/liveshows. Artistic license and all that. :D

Phil’s hair is getting long.

Dan might not even have noticed, except for the fact that Phil has taken to playing with it _constantly._ Absentmindedly tugging down the hair at the nape of his neck, and frowning at it in the mirror, and twirling it around his finger, and sighing when his quiff gives up the fight against gravity and flops into his eyes.

Dan’s hair is getting long too, but it’s not really bothering him as much as he’d have expected it to. He’s taken to pushing the curls off of his forehead and just letting them do their own thing. Sure, the sides of his hair are getting long, and his curls are a proper bird’s nest at this point, but he’s not all that fussed about it.

He doesn’t really know why Phil cares so much. Honestly, Dan loves how Phil looks no matter what length his hair is. It’s just Phil’s constant fussing with his hair that’s really getting on Dan’s nerves. Phil cares too much about his hair on a good day, but now, it’s turned into a near-obsession with how much he touches and fiddles with it.

Dan finally breaks when Phil has pushed his quiff off of his forehead and sighed for the twentieth time today. They’ve been playing video games practically all afternoon, and Dan’s eyes are drooping from tiredness. They shouldn’t have sat around for so long, probably - it doesn’t do anything for Dan’s wellbeing - but there’s only so much to do in this flat.

“Do you want me to give you some fucking scissors to chop your bloody hair off so you’ll stop fiddling with it?” he snaps, and only feels a little bad at how snarky he sounds. Phil’s just getting on his nerves today.

Phil looks up, surprised. “What?”

“You keep playing with your hair, like, constantly. It’s annoying.”

Phil huffs. “Well that’s ‘cause it’s too long. If you’d like to get me some scissors though, I wouldn’t complain. I’ll chop it off right now, just for you.”

Dan laughs, despite still feeling agitated and ready to snap again. “Yeah, don’t do that. That’s a terrible idea.”

“Maybe don’t tempt me with it, then.” Phil turns back to his Switch and plays for a few moments before looking up again. “You know, I’ve actually been considering that my next video should be me cutting my own hair.”

Dan raises an eyebrow. “So that your terrible decision will have video evidence? I love you, but I don’t really trust you with a pair of scissors.”

“I mean. I don’t trust myself either,” Phil says. “You know that I’m too emotionally attached to this quiff.”

“Exactly.”

Phil sits quietly, and Dan can almost see the cogs turning in his stupid, annoying, beautiful brain. _“You_ could cut it,” he says eventually, his voice softer and less agitated. “Like how all the other YouTubers are cutting their partners’ hair? I mean, we wouldn’t have to film it, obviously, unless you’d be up for it. But I’d trust you.”

Dan’s heart feels warm at that, and now he really does feel kind of bad for lashing out earlier. It’s always sweet when Phil casually offers suggestions for videos that Dan could take part in - never forcing him, just offering small ways to participate. And Dan’s even taken him up on the offer a few times, as a voice in the background. It’s nice to know that he’d still film a video with Dan, just like the good old days.

Dan shakes his head. “What if I ruined your quiff forever?”

“I mean, it’s just hair. It’ll grow back,” Phil says, but Dan sees a bit of fear creep into his expression.

“I’m not gonna cut your hair, bub.”

“So we’ll just suffer together and look like Tom Hanks in _Castaway._ We can totally rock that look.”

Dan is about to respond when a thought occurs to him. He bites his lip.

“What?” Phil looks curiously at him.

“Maybe we don’t have to suffer. Maybe it could be fun to embrace it. We could return to our long-haired emo roots.”

Phil smirks. “Is this you wanting an excuse to roleplay as our emo selves?”

“Fuck off,” Dan says, feeling his cheeks grow warm. “It’s not a... a _roleplay_ thing, I swear. This is purely just me giving into laziness and trying to not be miserable about it.”

Phil raises an eyebrow. “If you say so. Well then, you’re on. We won’t cut our hair, and we’ll pretend to be emos again.”

“As long as you stop fuckin’ touching it constantly, we have a deal.”

Phil smiles widely and sticks his hand out for Dan to shake. “Deal.”

\---

So maybe Dan’s lying. Maybe the thought of returning to his long-haired emo roots is tempting for reasons other than laziness. So sue him. He’s been stuck in this flat for the past month; a bit of fantasizing about other times and places is only normal.

And their emo time has been on the front of his mind lately, ever since he found a box of their old things from when they first started dating.

He’s been keeping busy these past few weeks by cleaning their flat, all of the nooks and crannies they normally don’t bother with. The box was a good find, tucked in the back of their spare room’s closet. He hasn’t seen some of this stuff for years: old t-shirts, the notes from the first PINOF, a stuffed lion that one of their early subscribers had given them, cutesy sticky notes they’d written to each other when they first moved in together.

There had also been lots of pictures. Some that others had taken of them: them outside in the Lesters’ snowy garden, them by the ocean in Jamaica, a candid photo of them somewhere that Dan can’t place. But there had also been selfies taken on Phil’s old point-and-shoot camera of them making ridiculous faces at each other, sitting practically on top of each other, hugging, kissing, and being newly in love.

The pictures were Dan’s favourite part of that box of old things. He doesn’t get nostalgic about a lot in his life, not like Phil does. But he _does_ get a burst of warm happiness whenever he thinks about when they first started dating, the moments of peacefulness he felt back then.

And spending a good hour looking through that box of memories - a proper time capsule from their honeymoon years - well. It’s made him properly nostalgic this past week, okay? Nothing wrong with that, especially when there’s nothing better to think about anyway.

And now that they’ve agreed to embrace having longer hair, he finds that he can’t stop staring at Phil, thinking about those old pictures, when long hair was actually in-style and not a product of being stuck inside. And he thinks that maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing to pretend they’re not stuck in this shitty year.

He always loved Phil’s longer hair when they first started dating. It was so soft, and smelled wonderfully of generic boy-shampoo, and Dan had spent hours running his fingers through it, breathing it in, needing it to permanently be etched into his senses for the hours they would have to spend apart.

And seeing Phil’s hair now, long enough that it swishes a bit when he moves… well, it brings back those good memories, the intense feelings of comfort and lust he felt back then.

So when Phil walks into their lounge one morning, a week or so after they’d agreed to let their hair grow out, Dan’s stomach twists and flutters more than he thinks is reasonable. Phil’s too-long hair is combed onto his forehead, nearly dipping into his eyes. The hair at the nape of his neck is nearly touching the collar of his button-down shirt.

Logically, he knows that Phil’s wearing his hair like this because of their agreement, and also to be lazy. He’s heard him complain so much this past month about how much time it takes to fuss with the salt spray to get his hair to stay up when it’s long like this, and how it’s just too much effort when he’s not filming. Today must finally be the day that Phil’s given up on trying to keep his hair in a neat quiff.

But seeing him with his fringe over his eyebrows, his hair curling around his ears… it makes the logical side of Dan’s brain go out the window. Phil is cute, and hot, and all the other words Dan can’t possibly think of right now. (It makes Dan think that maybe, he hasn't actually grown much past his eighteen year old self at all.)

“Morning,” Phil says, breaking Dan out of his thoughts. He sets his mug down on the table and sits down on the couch next to him.

Dan responds by pulling him into a lingering kiss. Phil’s lips are warm and taste like cheap instant coffee. It’s a taste Dan’s grown to love.

“What’s that for?” Phil asks, pulling away.

Dan shrugs. “Nothing. Just kinda like you, that’s all.” He’s not going to give Phil the satisfaction of knowing that he has butterflies in his stomach right now, that he’s remembering a different time when Phil had longer hair. He hides his grin by pressing his lips to Phil’s once again.

“Mmmmm,” Phil mumbles against his mouth, and pulls away. “I’m not complaining that you like me, or that you want to kiss me. For the record.”

“Then why are you still talking,” Dan says, kissing him again. His hands smoothe over Phil’s back and shoulders, coming to weave their way through his hair. He can sink his fingers into it, weave his fingers through it, probably even tug on it if he wanted to turn the heat up. He might, but this is nice for right now, kisses and gentle nips, them just enjoying each other’s company.

Eventually, Phil pulls away, his eyes half-closed, looking content. “Good morning to you, too.”

Dan smiles. “You look cute today.”

“Thanks. I tried really hard,” he says jokingly. “What are you up to?”

“Trying to decide what to do, actually.” He sits up and stretches. “It’s like the days are endless voids of time to fill. I feel like I should be doing so much more than I am.”

“I think you’re being productive enough,” Phil says, taking a sip of his coffee. “We’re sticking to a schedule and exercising most days, right? That’s good.”

“Yeah, I guess.” He sighs. “Have you ever thought that this is, like, the opposite of our tour days? We used to be _so_ busy, Phil.”

“Yeah, we were. How we were ever possibly so busy back then? Like, how did we ever have so much to do?”

“Hmmm, I dunno.” Dan’s mind drifts to dirtier places, because that bout of kissing has made him feel just a little horny. “But I kinda don’t mind not being so busy now. Now we have to cure our boredom with each other.”

Phil snorts so hard that a bit of coffee spills from his mug and lands on his shirt. “That’s the most horrible pickup line I’ve ever heard, Dan.”

He shrugs. “Wasn’t supposed to be a pickup line, but it’s true.” And it is. When they were on tour, constantly traveling to new places, surrounded by so many people, they simply didn’t have the time or energy to fuck. But these last few weeks, with no one else around, there's nowhere they can possibly be but here with each other.

“Speaking of curing our boredom, I think we should do something today,” Phil says eagerly.

“You don’t have to ask me so formally to fuck, you know.”

“You dumbass. I’m not talking about sex,” Phil says, shoving at Dan playfully. “Or at least, I’m not _just_ talking about sex. I think that we should have a date night tonight. Like, a proper date where we dress up and everything.”

“That sounds fun,” Dan says, perking up. “We haven’t had a date in ages.”

“Leave the planning to me,” Phil says, grinning widely. A smarter man would be afraid of the eager mischief in his eyes, but Dan is a certified dumbass and can’t look away.

\---

That evening, Phil makes them get dressed in different rooms, like they’re about to get married or something. Dan thinks it’s kinda dumb, but when Phil gets an idea, he goes at it with gusto, and really, who is Dan to disagree?

He’s just zipping up his jeans when there’s a knock on the door.

“Who is it?” Dan says sarcastically, as if a stranger is knocking on their bathroom door.

“Your hot date,” Phil says. “He’s exceptionally tall, dark, and handsome.”

Dan rolls his eyes and opens the door. Phil is standing there, casually leaning against the doorframe, one hip jutted out. Dan blinks and tries not to let him know just how affected he is by how good-looking he is right now.

Phil is wearing a plaid button-down shirt that Dan hasn’t seen on him for at least five years, and his hair is combed neatly over his forehead. It’s not quite the return of the emo fringe; it’s not much of a hairstyle at all really. But somehow, it works.

“These are for you,” Phil says, handing something to him. Dan sees that it’s the vase of plush piranha plant flowers from their kitchen.

“Awww, how did you know I’m a total nerd?” Dan says, taking the vase.

“Just a feeling,” Phil says. “You look very handsome tonight.” His fingers brush against Dan’s shirt, a shirt that he might have snuck out of the box of old things from the spare room. It fits him tightly, especially around the shoulders and chest, but Phil doesn’t seem to be complaining. They’ve both gone for the ‘wear old clothes’ theme tonight, it seems.

“So where are we going on our date?” he asks.

“A very fancy place,” Phil says. “It’s called Bistro de Dan-and-Phil’s-Kitchen. The cool thing about this place is that they let you cook your food yourself, so you can customize it however you’d like. No rogue cheese when you’re not expecting it.”

“Interesting concept for a restaurant,” Dan says. “I can’t wait to try it. Lead the way, Phil.”

Phil takes his free hand, the one not holding onto the vase of flowers, and leads him downstairs to the kitchen. Dan’s heart skips a beat when he realizes that Phil has taken his role of date planner seriously. He’s gone all out to transform their flat, dimming the lights and putting candles everywhere. It even looks like he’s dug their fancy tablecloth and dishes out of storage, and he has already set the table.

Dan puts the piranha plant flowers down in the middle of the table, a beautiful, nerdy centerpiece.

“So what do they serve at this restaurant?”

“Tonight, they’re serving the finest chickpea masala with naan bread,” Phil says. “And I think the chef said that there might be vegan pistachio ice cream for dessert.”

“Is the chef the refrigerator, then?” Dan says.

“Chef Fridge does not take well to customers insulting him, Daniel. He has trained long and hard to provide you top quality food.”

And it might be the fact that they’ve been stuck inside for a whole month now, but it strikes Dan as hilarious, and he starts laughing, Phil following suit.

They cook together, making the chickpea masala from scratch (because they’ve actually learned to cook a bit over the years). They heat up frozen naan bread in the toaster (because they also haven’t changed much at all and aren’t about to make homemade naans tonight).

They actually eat at the table like proper people on a date. Phil has lit the candles and turned on some jazz music, and it feels nice, like they’re actually out on a date and not stuck in their home.

Phil looks so handsome in the candlelight, and Dan can’t bring himself to hate when his brain gets sappy. Because yeah, he scored big time with this guy in front of him.

After dinner, they wash up and settle down on their sofa.

“You make the popcorn, and I’ll get the movie set up,” Phil says.

“What are we watching?”

“An old favourite.”

It turns out that Phil has selected WALL-E, a film Dan hasn’t actually seen since the first time he and Phil watched it on the Lesters’ sofa and cried together.

“Really bringing out the nostalgia, aren’t you?” he asks, setting down the bowl of popcorn.

Phil grins. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.

Dan’s tempted to use the film as an excuse to make out with Phil, but they’ve never been the sort to get distracted during movies. That’s one thing Dan loves about Phil, is that he takes movie-viewing just as seriously as Dan does, even when they’ve seen the film before.

So they eat popcorn and cuddle close together until the credits roll, at which point Phil turns to Dan.

“Did you have a good date night?” he whispers into Dan’s ear, and Dan can’t help but shudder with anticipation.

“Yeah. But the night’s not over yet, is it?”

“You’re right, it’s not.” Phil trails gentle kisses down his neck and his collarbone, before removing Dan’s shirt and continuing to kiss downward.

Dan sighs happily when Phil’s mouth is finally on him and he’s giving him a particularly enthusiastic blowjob. When Dan looks down at his fingers tangled in Phil’s hair, his stomach gives a funny jolt. It’s like falling back in time, seeing Phil’s broad shoulders stretch his old plaid shirt tight. Dan’s fingers twist tighter into Phil’s longer-than-usual hair, and he can’t help but groan a little.

But even though there are some similarities to the _them_ of ten years ago, it’s not quite the same. Phil’s hair is auburn now, his roots a bit lighter but not drastically so, especially not in their lounge’s candle-lit lighting. They’re in their own home now, the one that they rent together. There’s their pet fish in the corner.

And when Phil pulls off for a moment to smile up at Dan, the corners of his eyes crinkle more than they used to - laugh lines that Dan’s helped put there. And Dan feels so fond that he can’t help but urge Phil upwards so that they can kiss a few more times before Phil gets back to sucking him off.

“Thanks for indulging my weird fantasy of our younger years,” Dan says once they’ve both come. They’re curled up under the fuzzy blanket together, their naked limbs tangled together.

“Don’t say _‘our younger years.’_ That makes me feel about seventy years old,” Phil complains. “So is this you saying that you miss our emo days?”

“Mmmmm, not really? I’m so much happier now than I was back then.”

“Me too.”

Dan bumps their knees together. “I like our life now. I guess it’s just fun to pretend sometimes that we’re not stuck here, that we could actually go outside if we wanted.”

Phil kisses him slowly, dipping his tongue between Dan’s lips, and Dan can’t help but smile. He feels so content and sleepy, like he could fall asleep so easily if he knew he wouldn’t wake up with back pain if he spent the night on this sofa.

“I think it’s just been on my mind a lot lately.” he says when Phil pulls away. “I found a box of our old things when I was cleaning the flat the other week. Kinda made me sentimental.”

“Awww, you’re a sap,” Phil says delightedly. “I wanna see the box.”

“Mmmm. Later? I don’t want to get up.”

“Lazy,” Phil says, kissing him softly.

Dan just smiles and tangles his fingers in Phil’s hair once more.

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed, please consider [reblogging this fic!](https://possumdnp.tumblr.com/post/616595825292967936/happy-to-be-stuck-with-you-m-33k) <3


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